2026 will be breakout year for Navi, its credit-on-UPI push, says CEO Rajiv Naresh

Navi expects 2026 to be the breakout year with the scale-up of its credit-on-UPI product, the fintech unicorn’s chief executive officer (CEO) Rajiv Naresh has told Moneycontrol. Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal-led Navi is ready to scale Trezo, its credit-line-on-UPI product after a year of strengthening infrastructure and product flows, Naresh said. “I’m very confident 2026 will be the breakout year for Navi Trezo,” he said. “2025 has been the year of preparation, refining the product, stabilising journeys, and putting partners in place. Now the stars are aligning.” The product, launched with Karnataka Bank in 2024, will go live with a second bank partner next year. Naresh said the entire category is still in its early stages. “Credit-on-UPI is still at the ground floor. No app has captured customer imagination yet,” he said, adding UPI-linked credit lines could become “the most efficient way to deliver credit to the masses”. Navi’s UPI Push Navi has emerged as the fourth-largest UPI player, driven by speed, design and customer-centric features, Naresh said. It processes more than 570 million transactions, worth over Rs 30,000 crore, a month. Its UPI push started in early 2024. “Customers tell us unprompted that we are faster,” he said, citing Navi’s early investment in building its own switch. While cashbacks helped in earlier days, “beyond a point it has to be the product itself”, he said. Navi’s integrated spending analyser has also helped improve stickiness by providing spending insights without interrupting the payment journey. “Our goal is to add small, non-distracting features that give customers delight,” he added. Why UPI over RuPay credit cards? Over the past couple of years, many UPI players have been issuing Rupay credit cards owing to the popularity of the platform. Rupay cards can be linked to UPI and bring convenience along with the free credit for 45 days and rewards associated with credit cards. Navi prioritised Trezo over launching a co-branded RuPay credit card. “We couldn’t do both at the same time. We chose a credit line because it’s far simpler, lowers cost and can reach a much larger customer base,” he said, adding physical cards increase distribution costs and limit reach. Navi is not planning a co-branded card soon, the company has a “never say never” approach and could reassess if the market shifts, he added. Slow start for Trezo When asked about Trezo’s slower scaling in comparison to UPI payments, the Navi CEO said it requires deep integration with partner banks and operates in an evolving regulatory environment. “We wanted to be fully stabilised before talking about it to everybody,” he said. NPCI, which operates UPI, guidelines for credit lines were being tweaked throughout the year. “Now the market is far more stable,” Naresh said. Customer response has been positive, though many users want their credit limits increased. “We have our first thousands of fans, but limits have to be calibrated carefully,” he said. Brush with the regulator In 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred Navi Finserv, along with three other NBFCs, from sanctioning or disbursing fresh loans from October 21. The central bank cited “material supervisory concerns”, pointing out that Navi’s loan-pricing policies, specifically its weighted average lending rate (WALR) and the interest spread over cost of funds, were excessive and violated norms. The RBI also flagged deficiencies in compliance such as failure to properly assess borrowers’ household income and repayment capacity, weak disclosure of interest and fees and lapse of n norms around loan classification and recovery practices. Focus on profitability as IPO prep begins Navi Finserv reported a sharp drop in profitability in FY25, with net profit falling 67 percent to Rs 221.9 crore, RoC filings show. The decline came despite a strong operating performance, as revenue rose 19 percent to Rs 2,271.2 crore from the previous year. Navi will prioritise profitability in FY26 and the next year as it gets ready for IPO, Naresh said. “Profitability is the metric we are chasing,” he said. “We have aspirations to take the company public and the last six months have moved in the right direction.” Formal IPO process is expected to begin in April 2026. Naresh said a pre-IPO round is possible, adding “all options are on the table. We’ll do what’s right for the organisation.” Lending, AMC, and insurance businesses ‘growing nicely’ Naresh said Navi’s lending business, launched in 2020, has “grown from strength to strength”, driven by a fast customer journey and deep tech-led credit management. The mutual fund business, which follows a passive-first strategy, has crossed $1 billion in assets. Navi also expanded into motor insurance this year after investing in assisted and in-person sales for its health insurance portfolio. “Motor has gone really nicely. We expect to take it to the next level,” he said. The company has also begun developing an ads business leveraging its large UPI user base, though it is still in early stages, Naresh said.